ATHENS. 
seems to be evident from the circumstance of 
the entrance being closed when the building- 
was added. In the inscription upon the middle 
of the architrave and immediately over the 
central pilaster of the monument, no mention is 
made of the grotto : the legend appears to refer 
only to the structure whereon it is inscribed 1 . 
From this it may be conjectured, that the cave 
was one of the most antient sepulchral crypt& 
of the first settlers upon this rock : there are 
many other of a similar nature, fronting the 
Phalerum in the approach to ATHENS, and in the 
Hill of Musceus. It is precisely in the situation 
where such caves were often constructed for 
sepulchral purposes, by the earliest Grecian 
colonies, and by the inhabitants of all the eastern 
shores of the Mediterranean; that is to say, 
upon the outside and beneath the walls of the 
Acropolis; being hollowed in the rocks upon 
which their citadels were erected. Instances of 
this custom have been mentioned more than 
once, in the former parts of this work 2 . Here 
lee Plant we were gratified by finding the Ice-plant 
(Mesembryanthemum crystallinum LIXN.) sprout- 
ing luxuriantly, in its wild and native state, 
(l) See Chandler's Trav. in Greece, p. 63. Oxf. 1776. 
02) See Vol. II. of theOctavo Edition of these Travels, Chap. V. p. 90& 
